The Reckless One
by birdbox
Summary: It's only when she's disappears onto the landing that Barbie puts his head in his hands and for a while, he just sits there on someone else's couch, in someone else's house, with someone else's wife waiting for him to come to bed with her. Barbie's made some messes in his time, but this one might just top them all. Tag to S01E09-The Fourth Hand


**First Barbie-centric fic! I hope I got his 'voice' right. Let me know what you think and enjoy! :)**

Julia shoots him a mildly concerned look over her shoulder as she walks up the stairs, like something is wrong that she couldn't put her finger on, so Barbie dredges up a smile for her. She smiles briefly back before continuing up the stairs. It's only when she's disappears onto the landing that Barbie puts his head in his hands and for a while, he just sits there on someone else's couch, in someone else's house, with someone else's wife waiting for him to come to bed with her. Barbie's made some messes in his time, but this one might just top them all.

Feeling unbearably choked by the house, he ends up sitting on the swing seat on her porch with a cigarette between his lips, he closed the front door very quietly so Julia wouldn't hear him go out. Smoking is a dirty, dirty habit he picked up in the military, these days he tries his best to limit himself to times of great stress—unsurprisingly since the dome came down this rule has gotten a little lax. Whenever and if ever they get out of this thing, and once he's got access to nicotine patches and the like, he's promised himself to kick the habit for good.

It feels cold out now there's no sunlight filtering through the dome to keep things warm. Barbie thinks the dome must have some method of independent temperature regulation because otherwise during the day it'd become a sweltering green house but whatever the system is, it obviously isn't perfect because nights in the dome are colder than those outside it. Although, what life outside the dome was like is getting harder and harder to recall now, it feels like they've been trapped inside for so much longer than they have. This might go some way to explaining how he's managed to get himself so damn tangled up in things here... it's ironic how he'd mentally categorised 'Smith' to be an in-out job when he first made his way to that cabin. How wrong he was.

Barbie exhales, the smoke curling in the air before disappearing. He could just leave now, if he were so inclined. It would solve the issue of Max manipulating him into her schemes. He could just disappear into the night without a word to anyone—given the dome, there are only so many places he could go, but if Max was capable of hiding herself in the sealed town then so was he. Really and truly, it's what he should have done after that first night, after he saw that picture of 'Smith' in Julia's living room and realised 'Smith' and Julia's missing husband were one and the same. It'd be infinitely more difficult now though because he's made himself known in the town and people would wonder where he went.

_Julia_ would wonder where he went.

Would she miss him? Barbie's not sure. He's still not sure what she wants from him—because as much as he tries, it's hard to know what goes on in her head, and also because they never discuss it in so many words. Each day is so hyper-focussed on just staying alive and trying to keep as many of the town residents alive that it seems almost laughable to sit down and have 'the talk'. And even though it feels like more, it has only been a few days since they started... whatever their relationship is now so perhaps they're not even ready for it. It'd be nice to know where he stands but he's not going to force things. Plus, it could all become a non-issue in the face of much bigger problems. If Julia finds out the truth, it won't matter whether he's her rebound guy or not, she'll still never speak to him again.

Now the thought of her not being in his life, despite the short length of time they've known each other, is repugnant to him. Barbie's always been a selfish being and even though he knows he's going to hurt her further down the line, he's just selfish enough to want this thing he and Julia have to continue for as long as possible. He doesn't deserve her in the slightest, but as long as she saw something in him that she -however mistakenly- thought was worth a damn, he'd hold onto it with every fibre of his being.

Barbie stubs out his cigarette under his shoe, kicking it off the porch, and heads back inside. The house is quiet and dark now; he heads upstairs and enters her room quietly, conscious of her soft breathing and stillness that indicated sleep. He strips off to his boxers and slips in beside her—despite his misgivings, it always feels like it's where he's supposed to be. His flesh is chilled from the time he spent outside but you wouldn't know it from the way Julia wraps herself around him without hesitation. Her soft, warm body tangles with his and he can't tell whose limbs are whose.

Julia stirs in his arms, lifting her head groggily. Barbie pushes a lock of soft red hair behind her ear. "Sorry I woke you," he murmured.

"S'okay," she says, resting her head back on his chest. A minute passes. "Barbie?"

"Yeah?"

Her next words are almost inaudible. "I'm glad I met you."


End file.
